Several years ago, the mobile market was quite different than what it is today. Google's Android flagship phones are getting popular by using all the limits in mobile technology and Apple's iOS with iPhone is the smartphone of choice for many communities and fans. This is just a brief glimpse at the world when Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 was born. Destined to be the replacement solution for an obsolete Windows Mobile 6.x platform, WP7 did its best to disrupt the industry by offering its unique Metro user interface and slick performance across the board.
The mobile industry is rapidly changing and growing at an increasingly fast pace, and the Windows Phone popularity didn't last as long as Microsoft is expecting. The company enjoys less than 5 percent of the world's smartphone market share as it launches its new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8, on October 26th, 2012. The new firmware promises to resolve concerns surrounding hardware limitations and the platform's ecosystem, add the long-awaited features and integrate the OS with Windows 8.
Innovation from Learning
Microsoft has met considerable pressure from the unstable operating system market. The company that has made its debut with PC Windows is having a heavy competition from the growing mobile industry that made people use desktop computers less. Microsoft is now in the competition where where its rivals already earlier debuts.
As any products that have fans and foes, Microsoft with Windows Phone is not at all different and so as Android and iOS devices. Microsoft that is now a few steps behind sees some of the flaws its rivals have, correct them, and implement the feature into its own with added functionality inside the shadows of its Metro UI. However, since nothing can be a 100 percent perfect, Microsoft also made flaws in its products, which some are new that the rivals don't have. And once again, by seeing the flaws, Microsoft corrected it to make the Windows Phone 8 to expect a larger portion of the market.
Microsoft, as a big player in the game, does have a chance to compete within the market. Although with less than 5 percent of the market in its hands, WP8 is operating system Windows made by learning from its rivals' mistakes and little flaws that many people haven't think of. Although still steps behind in the competition, Microsoft is able to show its capability with its mature age in operating system business.
Windows Phone 8 was met with mostly positive reception, with reviewers generally praising the increased capabilities of the system, but criticizing the smaller app selection when compared to other phones. WP8 is what the market wanted to see in the views of customization and compatibility. The OS is presenting one of the most compelling ecosystem stories in the business.
Users, Communities and Developers
Mobile operating systems are very dependent to communities and third-party developers to further expand their ecosystems. By having a small percentage of the market, Microsoft is having a hard time to persuade developers to make its WP8, if not an alternative, a place to get more market share from its Android and iOS rivals.
Heavy dependencies to communities can be seen when RIM's BlackBerry is still popular in some countries. BlackBerry that currently have about 3 percent of the mobile market has struggled to compete against both and its market share has plunged since 2011, leading to speculation that it will be unable to survive as an independent going concern. However, the Canadian device has managed to maintain significant positions in some markets. BlackBerry that is notable with its lower hardware capability is still having a good grip in the Asian market: especially in India, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia where people are still making its BBM (BlackBerry Messaging) and instant push email a popular culture in their communities despite the heavy market penetration by Android and iOS devices.
Although with the above dependencies, not all people are heavy users that expect high-end capability. Or not everyone expects their phone to have unlimited apps in the market. Most people just expect to have something different and thus making them one of the crowd with different personality. Whether its the "users", "communities", or "developers" that is first attracted to use and grow a platform, all other aspects will come in a chain reaction.
Conclusion
Many people has argued that Windows Phone 8 is a solid mobile operating system that has a chance to compete with the iPhone's iOS 6 and Android Jellybean. The problem is that the people are all too eager to point out Windows Phone 8's app deficiency compared to other platforms, and that their negativity is scaring developers away.
If Microsoft is able to create a solid place for developers to gather, despite its spotted weaknesses, Windows Phone will be able to grow its community and further expect the increase users in a domino effect; an analogy that will keep moving on.